'Learn the Lesson': China's Dog Meat Festival Faces Demands Amid Coronavirus

Announcements of Chinese dog and cat meat festival underway prompted many angry reactions on social media, as users fear it will increase the chances of a wider coronavirus outbreak, if not trigger a new more brutal virus.

The festival that faces annual criticism from defenders of animal rights is under heavy attacks this year in particular, in the aftermath of the global pandemic that emerged from China's wet market, infecting around 10 million people worldwide and killing about half a million.

Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak was associated with Wuhan's wet market last December, commentators expressed their anger at the traditional Chinese meat-eating habits. Most notably, this festival where dogs and cats are feasted on in Yulin southwest to the country, during the annual 2020 Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, held between the 21st and 30th of June.

In addition to calls to protect animals, social media anger pointed at the Chinese insistence to carry on with the festival plans despite the global viral outbreak; saying that the country hasn't learned anything from the current pandemic.

Some theories trying to understand the development of COVID-19 suggested that the virus may have generated in bats, the animals that are also sold in Chinese wet markets for eating purposes.